[Chapter 6: Ruling and Diplomacy]In this chapter you will find many of the details in regard to ruling in SimRTK.6.1 Becoming a Ruler - How rulers are selected, and how they fluctuate over time.6.2 Playing a Ruler - About your goals as a ruler and how to acheive them.6.3 Diplomacy - How to manage relations with other kingdoms.6.4 Ranks Overview - Breakdown of how ranks work.6.5 Officer Ranks - The requirements and authority for officer ranks.6.6 Ruler and Imperial Ranks - List of Ruler ranks, and what rulers and Emperors can grant.6.7 Declaring Rank - How to acquire a new ruler rank.

[6.1 Becoming a Ruler]Before the game begins, a thread will be opened in the Headquarters in which any player may freely post their intent to be a ruler. There will be a short list of criteria that your post must contain, usually your character's name and an ordered list of starting cities. Beyond this, there are no requirements to apply. You may have signed up for SimRTK two days ago and not yet made a post, but you are still allowed to apply.

Once the thread has been open for a few days, it will be closed and rulers will be randomly selected from the pool of applicants. Every player has an equal chance. There is no seniority in SimRTK. Every attempt will be made to give players their first choice for their Starting City, but if two players list the same city, one will receive a lower-ranked city from the list that they submitted. Regardless, you will receive only one city off your list.

At this point, each person who was chosen will be sent a PM to confirm their rulership. If they decline or do not reply in time, replacements will be drawn. Once a ruler is confirmed, a Planning Hall (PH) will be set up for them. The Planning Hall is a private forum that can be used for kingdom strategy discussion. As ruler, you are the Group Moderator for your Planning Hall, and are responsible for adding threads to this forum. The PH will start with only the skeleton threads by the administrators. You are also solely responsible for adding members to your Planning Hall. To allow a player access to your planning hall, click on the Usergroups link in the upper-right hand corner of the forum below the forum title, select the user group named after your character, and then manage it from there. While it is not absolutely necessary to add every officer to your Planning Hall, access has become a sign of trust between ruler and officer; as such, not adding a player may cause friction, however you do have the right to either not grant or remove access to individuals. You also have the right to grant access to individuals who are not in your kingdom, should you so choose. Be careful what officers you allow access, as they may actually be spies for an enemy lord. In your Planning Hall are your Kingdom Turns Thread, your Kingdom Info-Thread and an Administrator Communication thread by which you can communicate with the Administrators to ask questions or request certain rulings, and also for Administrators to pass on information to you.

You will also be given an Audience Hall for your character. In this hall officers will apply for service, other rulers will contact you, and various important events will occur. Use of this Audience hall is covered below.

If you were not selected to be a starting ruler, then do not worry. Officers have at least as much to do in this game as rulers, so you will not want for activity, should you seek it. If you still wish to become a ruler, there are a few paths open to you:

--Wait for a ruler to abdicate. Ruling is not an easy role. While it is a rewarding experience to see your kingdom grow and prosper, it can also be a lot of work. Ruling is not meant to be onerous, nor is it meant to be a burden on your outside life. As such, you are free to step down at any time and become a normal officer again.

--Wait for your ruler to die. Accidents happen, and when they do you may find yourself with a new ruler.

--If you're tired of waiting for the ruler to die, then be proactive and do it yourself! Work your way into a position of trust, and then betray it. This is not entirely ethical, and not without danger, but it is certainly a possibility.

[6.2 Playing a Ruler]As a ruler, your goal is to unite China by hook or by crook. You can do this alone and unilaterally, or you can work with your peers and build coalitions to expand your power. Bear in mind though, that your goal is to conquer China for yourself, and allies are only a temporary means to an end. Whether the ends will justify the means, or vice versa is your decision to make as a rational, mature human being. Or, alternatively, you may simply do whatever your gut tells you to do, regardless of what logic says. However, bear in mind one universal constant: With freedom of action comes responsibility of consequence. If you make and break alliances repeatedly, do not be surprised to find your neighbors aligned against you. On the other hand, if you seek to build coalitions and co-operate peacefully with your neighbors, do not be surprised to find people taking advantage of your kindness. Your actions may also have repercussions among the populace- things such as imprisoning or executing prisoners of war will cause ill-will amongst the common people.

As a starting ruler, you will be aided in your quest by five Non-Player Characters (NPCs) that have been randomly assigned to you. You have 100 bond with each of them, meaning that they are personally loyal to you. Beyond these starting NPCs, you are personally responsible for recruiting further officers.

Player Character (PCs) may come to you, but it will be more effective for you to seek them. You may send them letters via Private Message (PM) inviting them to visit your Audience Hall, or your officers may do this on your behalf. If they choose to visit you and then agree to serve you, instruct them to post their Officer Information in your thread. PCs cannot be used in Kingdom Turns unless they have posted in your Officer Information Thread. Additionally, the stats that are listed in their post are the stats that you must use for Kingdom Actions, even if they are lower than they should be. As such, one of your tasks is to ensure that your officers' various posts are accurate.

NPCs and GM NPCs are discussed in detail in 3.5 Roleplay. They are both found via Searches undertaken in your Kingdom Turn. When an NPC is found, the Searching officer usually receives a free attempt to recruit them. If this fails, they enter the Free NPC pool and any kingdom may attempt to recruit them. Future recruitments will be processed in order of proximity to the NPC's city. If the NPC joins you, either immediately after being found or from the Free NPC pool, they may or may not gain any bond with you. The post where your recruitment is confirmed (almost always the Game Turn Information Thread) will state how much. If nothing is listed, then no bond is gained. Having bond with an NPC will increase the difficulty of them being recruited away from you. GM NPCs, on the other hand, must be recruited in exactly the same manner as PCs and you may never gain bond with them.

There is no hard limit to the number of officers that may join your cause, be they PCs, NPCs, or GM NPCs. However, your income may impose a soft limit, as you must pay every officer a sum of gold in every season's Kingdom Turn (March, June, September, and December). The minimum amount you will pay is 20 taels (units) of gold, but the exact amount depends on their rank.

As previously mentioned, you start with one city. Additionally, you have a modest amount of gold and food and a small army. Having officers is necessary to develop your city and lead your army, but this will not be sufficient. You will eventually have to expand into open, unclaimed cities, but once all this space is filled, growth only comes at the expense of another kingdom. Moreover, you must develop your newly won territories, or you will quickly find yourself falling behind in the war of production, even if you are constantly gaining new cities. Overextension can have disasterous consequences. To avoid this, you will need friends amongst other kingdoms, and that involves diplomacy.

Kingdoms are dynamic things that demand much attention. As a ruler, you are ultimately responsible for every aspect of your kingdom--Officer recruitment, diplomacy, kingdom turns, army movements, battle tactics, everything. Even small kingdoms have more than their fair share of work. You need not shoulder the burden all by yourself, however. You are encouraged to delegate tasks to your trusted subordinates. Not only does this reduce your workload, but it invests your players into the kingdom and keeps them active and involved. Do bear in mind, however, that while you may delegate the authority of a position, you cannot delegate the responsibility. You are the last word in your kingdom.

Entire kingdoms are never allowed to surrender to another kingdom, no matter the circumstances; this would give the latter kingdom too much power and upset game balance. Individual rulers may, however, step down from their position freely. Rulership is not meant to be a burden, and you are under no obligations in this game. Note that if you retire, you cannot take any kingdom resources with you. You may appoint a successor, or may allow your officers to choose amongst themselves. Note that successors, be they appointed or elected, may not be universally accepted.

[6.3 Diplomacy]Diplomacy is the art of managing relations with your ruling peers. It involves making and keeping friends, and managing enemies to ensure they do not proliferate. Embrace diplomacy too much and you may find yourself surrounded by friends with nowhere to expand; ignore it, and you may find yourself surrounded by enemies instead.

Rulers may sign two different types of treaties with one another: non-aggression pacts and full alliances. When two kingdoms have a non-aggression pact in place, they agree that they will not attack each other. The mechanical effect of signing a non-aggression treaty is that it allows units to move freely about the map when in the presence of the other kingdom's units (the units are not affected by the other army's zone of control). A full alliance is an enhanced version of a non-aggression pact: in addition to allowing free movement, an allied kingdom is treated the same as its ally when it comes to determining who can use the ally's gates and the effect of armies near the ally's city. Any intentional attack made against a kingdom with either a non-aggression treaty or a full alliance will immediately end the effects of the treaty. In addition, a ruler may unilaterally declare a treaty to be ended by posting in the Treaty Confirmation thread, and the treaty will be considered null as of the next Military Phase.

To negotiate a treaty, you need only send an officer to another ruler's Audience Hall. It is encouraged that you send a PC, so as to keep them involved, but an NPC may also be used. A statless envoy may not be treated the same from a mechanical point of view as a statted one would. As the kingdom ruler, you may roleplay as your NPCs. However, in certain situations (namely plots) this right may be suspended without warning, potentially in the middle of a roleplay. You may also allow your players the use of NPCs with stats under these same conditions. In either event, roleplay ensues and the treaty is discussed. If it is agreed upon, you may both confirm it in the Treaty Confirmation Thread. All treaties posted here are considered public knowledge. If you wish, you may keep a treaty a secret by not posting it in the Confirmation thread, but treaties of this sort are usually untrustworthy at best, and will not provide any mechanical effects.

[6.4 Ruler and Player Ranks]There are four categories of ranks: Military, Civil, Ruler, and Imperial Ranks.

Military and Civil Ranks:--Obtainable by any officer.--Can hold one of each at any given time.

Ruler Ranks:--Only rulers can get ruler ranks. --Only rulers can give out military and civil ranks.

Imperial Ranks:--Only obtainable from someone who has the rank of Emperor. --Any character aside from a ruler who has declared Emperor, regardless of any other ranks can obtain Imperial ranks.--Bonuses from Imperial ranks stack with bonuses from other rank types.

Salary and AP Bonuses:--All ranks will add to the minimum salary that must be paid to the officer each season. This bonus is listed in the description of the rank in the section below. The total salary paid to the character will be equal to the base salary of 20 plus the bonus from each rank held (civil, military, and Imperial).--In Personal Turns, a rank may grant you bonus AP. For Civil and Military Officers, this is equal to your Grade level. For ruler, Imperial, and Emperor ranks, this is equal to your Unit Limit/10 (rounded down) and Civil grade level. Put the total bonus AP from all your ranks in your Extra AP line in your Personal Turn or you will not be able to use them.

A Note on Rank NamesYou may rename civil and military ranks to one of your liking for RP purposes. However, the bonuses and requirements cannot be modified.

See below to find the list of all ranks and their various requirements.

A person's rank determines whether he or she is authorized to perform particular tasks, and has an effect on how well it may be performed. In order for a kingdom to function properly, a hierarchy must be in place, to provide support for the highest levels of authority. A ruler who wishes to assign higher ranks to some officers must have a certain number of lower supporting positions filled at the same time, or the higher rank will not be available. The regular positions for kingdom members are defined below:

Basic Employment wrote:Anyone may be employed in these positions, with no limit, but their authority and efficacy is very limited. Everyone employed by the kingdom automatically starts at the position of Assistant if they are not promoted to a higher position.

AssistantSalary Bonus: 0 Can lead Transport units Can purchase goods at the Market

Civil Ranks wrote:Civil Officer ranks are given to the people who undertake the bulk of work in keeping cities orderly and productive. The number of higher ranks available is limited by the ruler's rank. Higher ranks also require that a certain number of subordinate positions beneath them be filled. All officers must be paid the base salary of 20 gold in addition to the listed Salary Bonus. Ranks which give stat bonuses should be added into the officer's stat in the appropriate KT location.

Civil Officer Grade 1:Salary Bonus: 20 Can staff normal buildings (not Landmark-level) Can Search Can Recruit (may only offer ranks up to own level) Can Draft/Hire Can Construct Can Produce Can Spy/Plot Can Gather Intelligence Can raise Defense

Military Ranks wrote:Military Officer ranks are given to the people who prepare and lead the kingdom's military. The number of higher ranks available is limited by the ruler's rank. Higher ranks also require that a certain number of subordinate positions beneath them be filled. All officers must be paid the base salary of 20 gold in addition to the listed Salary Bonus.

Military Officer Grade 1:Salary Bonus: 20 Can lead army units Can Patrol Can Train Can Draft/Hire Can Gather Intelligence Can raise Defense

Below are the various ranks that a kingdom ruler may possess, and how many officer ranks she may in turn assign to her vassals. Kingdom ruler ranks are special, and may not be combined with anything other than an Imperial rank, nor do they have salary requirements.

MagistrateThe default ruler rank, for those who have not yet earned a higher status.

Governor (Unit Limit +35, TP +35, Civil3, +1 City Morale when Prefect)Kingdom's maximum army units +5.-Can assign up to 10 Military and Civil Officer 2 ranks.-Can assign up to 4 Military and Civil Officer 3 ranks.

Inspector (Unit Limit +45, TP +45, Civil4, +1 City Morale when Prefect)Kingdom's maximum army units +8.-Can assign up to 15 Military and Civil Officer 2 ranks.-Can assign up to 6 Military and Civil Officer 3 ranks.-Can assign up to 2 Military and Civil Officer 4 ranks.

Warlord/Imperial Protector (Unit Limit +55, TP +55, Civil5, +1 City Morale when Prefect)Kingdom's maximum army units +12.-Can assign up to 22 Military and Civil Officer 2 ranks.-Can assign up to 10 Military and Civil Officer 3 ranks.-Can assign up to 5 Military and Civil Officer 4 ranks.-Can assign up to 2 Military and Civil Officer 5 ranks.

Duke/Lord (Unit Limit +70, TP +70, Civil5, +1 City Morale)Kingdom's maximum army units +18.-Can assign up to 40 Military and Civil Officer 2 ranks.-Can assign up to 20 Military and Civil Officer 3 ranks.-Can assign up to 10 Military and Civil Officer 4 ranks.-Can assign up to 10 Military and Civil Officer 5 ranks.

The Emperor is a special person in the hearts of many, but just how much authority he actually has may vary. A ruler who was a mere Magistrate before ascending the throne will not inspire the same type of awe and respect as one who was a King. Below are the grades of the Emperor rank along with a list of what ranks they may assign. Each grade corresponds to a ruler rank, shown in square brackets. The Emperor is considered to be at the grade equivalent to whichever rank he held prior to declaring Emperor. He may continue to attempt to raise his grade level after declaring Emperor by the same process as if he were increasing his non-Emperor rank. If someone who wishes to become Emperor is not himself a ruler, his kingdom of employ may support his bid for Imperial leadership in the same way as if he were its ruler, although the kingdom hierarchy will not change, giving the ruler howevermuch authority over the Emperor in her custody that she chooses to keep. The maximum army unit is the same for an Emperor as a ruler of the same grade.

Any kingdom which wishes to maintain the presence of an Emperor must have a Palace, making it the capitol city of the Empire.

There are several ways for a ruler to increase in rank. The first, being awarded a rank by an Emperor, is the most 'official' way, but relying upon the generosity of an Emperor is unlikely to get you very far. In addition, an Emperor may only give out ranks lower in level than his own. The second method is via your Prestige rating. In order to declare a rank based on Prestige, you (or your kingdom) must have a Prestige of 10, hold the rank immediately below the desired rank, and may not have declared a rank via Prestige for at least five game years. The final method is based upon your kingdom's size, detailed below.

Grand AdministratorCan be self declared when your Kingdom has at least one city, 10 officers and a military force greater than 200 units.

Governor/ChancellorCan be self-declared when your Kingdom has at least three cities, 15 officers and a military force greater than 400 units.

InspectorCan be self-declared when your Kingdom has at least four cities, 20 officers and a military force greater than 600 units.

Imperial ProtectorCan be self-declared when your Kingdom has at least five cities, 25 officers and a military force greater than 800 units.

Duke/High LordCan be self-declared when your Kingdom has at least Ten cities, 60 officers and a military force greater than 4000 units.

Prince/KingCan be self-declared when your Kingdom has at least Twelve cities, 60 officers and a military force greater than 5000 units.

In order to declare a new rank, when you believe you meet the requirements, you must post in the Ruler Rank thread located in the Headquarters forum. An Administrator will confirm any new ranks after the close of every Kingdom Turn, and the new ranks will be usable starting in the month of the next KT.

Xeniphon wrote:Ah well, all the ideas for my character are now defunct... Back to the drawing board I go.

Now for a few comments on the Ruling and Diplomacy section...- Below Emperor ranks it lists the Imperial ranks they can give, but down at the bottom of each list is "(X Civil ranks)", "<more civil ranks>", "<civil ranks>", ect... There is no explanation and it is very confusing...- In declaring ranks via PR you have "cannot have declared a rank in the last 5 game years"... So its basicly pointless to try and use prestige to gain more than 1 rank? Seriously we aren't going to be playing for 30 years game time given how the Pre-game has majorly bogged down so this should probably get changed to something more reasonable to make PR declaring at least mildly appealing as an alternitive.- For declaring rank based on size it states "cities" but do "towns" count as cities (its not clear)?

Well since it seems there is still a lot of time before the next version, and staff deleted my suggestions thread a while back, I figure I may as well poke some holes in the ranks system and suggest ways I think it should be changed....

First of all I am totally cool with the way ranks were simplified, though it might be nice to include a list of title names and reletive equivalency with the new system to give rulers (particularly starting rulers) an idea of what they might call their ranks ICly should they not wish to come up with their own.

The main issue however is that for a long time I have mentioned that the ranks only applied to certain things and that there were a lot of activities that did not benefit from ranks. The argument I have heard in response before was "its their choice to pick a build that doesn't benefit, tough" but the things that do not benefit are not only essential to the running of kingdoms but saying that something is someone's "choice" when they are given the choice to play a very limited scope of roles or not benefit is not a personal choice but a staff enforced choice not within the player's control or ability to overcome through effort or cleverness.

Currently we have grades 1-5 in civil/military that allow various levels of activity, thats cool. However the benefits are very limited with military ranks getting bonus TP/Unit Limit and civil ranks getting +stat while staffing a building. Where does that leave the producers, the troop trainers, the KT Ploters, the recruiters, the Duelists, the advisors, ect...? There is no difference between a civil grade 1 producer of arms and a civil grade 5 producer of arms other than that the kingdom saves money by not promoting the producer, how does that make sense? Why would a recruiter be promoted when they aren't staffing a building and thus being paid for a bonus they can't use (yes I know grades 4 and 5 have a minor bonus to search/recriut but those minor bonuses are not worth giving those high ranks to them rather than someone who will use the big bonus to staffing stats to improve the kingdom). Really these kinds of things make very little sense and are actually forcing players to make specific skill/stat choices in order to have a shot at being more than minimal rank (particularly with ranks being so limited early on).

Why not work out what the equivalent of say a production bonus is compared to a given level of +stat when staffing or the like then do the same for other roles that don't benefit fromt he traditional rank rewards? For instance decide how much bonus to search/recruit would balance out if it replaced a given amount of +stat while staffing or how much DP (Duel Points) a rank might give a duelist instead of a TP bonus (or something like that). This way the ranks would still be balanced but would allow players to more freely use their creativity with character creation and neither break the game nor be left in the dust because ranks simply don't benefit a useful build that is needed but not covered with ranks.

I have a feeling the first thing I will hear (assuming this isn't just ignored) is something like "boo-hoo, get over it" but thats an offhanded dismissal rather than a refutation or answer to the problem. The one argument I can see making sense for this is that you need the rank effects to be fixed so that they can be put into tools, I can see that being an issue but I can also see an easy fix. Just make variations on the ranks so that say a Military Grade 1 rank is like normal but you have variations like "Military Grade 1a" which gives a bonus to ploy success or effect and bonus TP instead of Unit Limit bonus and bonus TP (for advisors). The variations are still considered the same as their grade (so if you can only make 6 Civil/Military Grade 1 officers each variation would still count against that same limit) but are differentiated by the variation letter so that all the variations could be loaded into the tools beforehand. In this way we still have many fewer ranks to deal with than last version but at the same time they allow the players to be more creative/rulers to be more free in rewarding players and still let you pre-load all the ranks into the tools for ease of use.

If its a no go this game then fine, but I really think that its something the staff needs to look at seriously. I would really like to see players feel like they can gain rank even if they are not the traditional unit comander or building staffer of ultimate Pol godhood. It would add more creative builds to the mix, allow RP builds to be more effective mechanically (we should always support the RPers where reasonably fair), it would make it more likely for rulers to give ranks to essential people who do not otherwise benefit from that rank (like say Civil Engineers), and once the conversions are worked out/balanced they are really easy to impliment as simply substitutions. Yes it means an extra amount of legwork, but I think the end result gives a lot to the players/rulers and aside from the extra work harms nothing in fairness or the efficiency of tools/running the game.